The Assessment of Cognitive Abilities in Psychiatric Patients: Are Widely Used Psychological Tests Still Up-to-Date? An Overview of the Situation in German Speaking Countries

Objective: Evaluation of widely used tests for the assessment of cognitive abilities of adult psychiatric patients in German speaking countries by current psychometric standards. Methods: The German Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (HAWIE, HAWIE-R, WIE), the Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test (MWT-B), the German adaption and revision of the Benton Visual Retention Test (BT; 10-Item version, 20-Item version), and the d2 Test of attention (Test d2, d2-C, d2-R) were evaluated. A systematic search for relevant psychometric test publications in German language journals and textbooks was carried out. Three evaluation criteria were considered: 1) theoretical foundation, 2) availability of actual test norms, 3) usual psychometric test validity and reliability criteria. Results: The theoretical foundation of all of the psychological tests under review was found to be very weak. The norm values of some of the tests are outdated. Most of the psychological tests do not fulfill high quality standards of psychometric testing. Conclusions: The examined psychological tests for the assessment of cognitive abilities of psychiatric patients only partly conform to current standards of psychological testing. It is likely that the test results are of limited value. Misleading or even incorrect clinical evaluations might be a frequent outcome.